Equality versus Freedom Rebuttal Rebuttal

To the Illustrious Mr. Pot:

I thoroughly enjoyed your skillful avoidance of anything vaguely resembling a rebuttal. Despite your back roads trip down an historical memory lane, replete with presidential minutiae, there seemed to be no substantive defense of the leftist practice of trying to force their idea of equality down the throats of defenseless Americans. While you skillfully pointed out that Jefferson was occasionally referred to by historical scribes as a Republican, I think in all fairness even you would agree that the term Republican has evolved since then and today bears little resemblance to what Mr. Jefferson espoused. You say he was a man of contradictions. Some would prefer the term hypocrite. My preposterous example of a diminutive NBA player was intended to be exactly that: preposterous, as is the concept of a level playing field, quotas, et al. In our country, Mr. Pot, freedom equals opportunity. But opportunity will never equal equality, even on a "level playing field".

Respectfully,

Mr. Kettle

Equality versus Freedom Rebuttal

Dear Mr. Kettle:

Thank you for your letter of October 20th. First, let me be the first to say that outside of an old Disney movie where the word Flubber is used frequently, in straight face, the idea of a 5' 2" center does sound preposterous. However, permit me to explore your sports analogy a bit further with the understanding, of course, that all analogies unravel when worried too much.

If I were a younger man, with aspirations of a baseball career in the major league, with a working knowledge of how the game is truly played, I know with absolute certainty what would be required to excel in my chosen profession. First, I would need to temporarily immigrate to the Dominican Republic

Today's Food for Thought

We all have a duty to argue. However, in so doing, we must never forget that the boring bits of conversation are essential to the art of communication, for in the end it is as important to hear as be heard.

Who's on your money...and why?

In the early days of the Republic, most nations printed money which featured images of the current leaders. Among the many things rejected by George Washington as our first elected president was the idea that the United States should embrace such overt idolatry to living men, establishing a precedence for not using the images of current, breathing leaders on our currency. Therefore, most early currency included other images such as the lady liberty and figures from Greek and Roman mythology.

In the mid 19th century, as our founding fathers passed into antiquity

Equality versus Freedom

To the illustrious Mr. Pot:

Today, I choose to skewer one of liberalism's most sacred of cows...the fictitious concept of equality.

For those on the left who seem to envelop themselves in a euphoric fog whenever the concept of equality is mentioned, I will exercise bluntness and brevity: You can have equality or you can have freedom, but you can't have both. Equality and freedom can rarely if ever walk peacefully together hand in hand.

My good friends on the left will excitedly invoke the oft quoted phrase attributed to St. Thomas Jefferson assuring that “all men are created equal.....”. While good old Tom did not employ the use of asterisks when composing phrases in our nation's Declaration of Independence, that lofty idea about being created equal certainly begs for such punctuation. In colonial times, if you were a wealthy Caucasian land owner who engaged in the barbaric practice of buying and selling human beings for the purpose of forced labor, then you gladly rejoiced in the fact that only you and all of your chums were certainly created equal. Unfortunately, the Don of Monticello did not extend such equality to women, or blacks, or the hoi poloi of his time. In fact it was a pretty limited club with most members frequently seen wearing powdered wigs. But to a mindless leftie, if Thomas Jefferson said it then it must be true.

Power

Knowledge cannot be taken from you by power or wealth.

Shh

Helen Keller was quoted as saying, “Blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people.”

What if Ms. Keller was not speaking purely in literal terms?

The Capital of Labor, Rebuttal

Dear Mr. Pot:

Forgive my delay in responding to our very first point/counterpoint, but as a practicing capitalist, and unlike many of my liberal friends, I must pursue activities to support my family, pay my creditors, and stimulate the sluggish Obama-created economy.

That being said, there are a number instances where the Federal government has forced labor without direct compensation to the laborers. The most glaring example lies near the Potomac in our nation's capitol....the White House. According to White House historian William Bushong, and verified by CBS News, slave labor was utilized during the construction of the First Family's edifice. In the interest of accuracy, however, it must be said that the masters of the slaves in question were handsomely compensated for their slaves' efforts but the slaves themselves saw nary a contribution to their meager change purses.

I too am amused by understated verbiage you employ to describe the current economic strife prevalent in all aspects of the economy (except perhaps in the coffers of those who have unbridled access to the doors of the Oval Office). Unemployment consistently remains at historically high levels, our national debt is measured in trillions (the debt service alone is

Democracy & Capitalism

While democracy is intrinsically moral, capitalism is inherently amoral, perpetually putting us at odds with ourselves.

Your thoughts?

Our Fellow Americans

If you've found your way to this corner of the Internet, please be prepared for a bit of political verbosity from the unwashed offered up for entertainment and education. We hope to explore current topics which affect us all, whether they be part of the mainstream media or lesser known subjects that impact our lives.

We hope to explore these topics without descending too deeply into the chaos of rhetorical ideologies. With that thought in mind, should you have a question for Mr. Pot or Mr. Kettle, please feel free to post it here, that we might have a opportunity to answer the question and explore the topic. Should you wish to weigh in on an essay by either of us, please feel free to participate.

Of course, this is a forum for the exchange of ideas and the exploration of topics of a political nature, in long form. In other words, peppering this page with sound bites and political cartoons that do not include personal and insightful commentary by the individual submitting the post will most likely be removed, at the earliest convenience. We hope to maintain some decorum, for which we will put forth the effort. Still, we have our limits.

We want to dig deep and share our thoughts on what's going and in so doing maybe offer some balance and perspective. In turn, should you feel compelled, we want you to dig deep and share your thoughts with us.

We hope you enjoy this forum. We hope you learn something from it. We hope to learn something from you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Pot & Mr. Kettle

The Capital of Labor

Dear Mr. Kettle,

I wish to thank you for your note of October 9, as I was mightily amused by your skillful choice of words. Even using a liberal interpretation of the word modern, I could discern no instance in which the Federal Government forced labor without the promise of pay. Still, to borrow a few worn phrases, we are in uncertain times and uncharted waters where we have our worst possible opportunities to repeat the mistakes of the past. By narrowing your reply solely to modern times there is the implication that history does not repeat itself and that the future is wholly uncharted and unknown.

In a separate conversation, an old friend reminded me of the other rhetoric coming out of Washington that none of us, our leadership included, can understand the true economic impact of what lies ahead, should our elected officials continue failing us. My rebuttal then and now is that we have plenty of modern, democratic economic models on which to reflect and evaluate, as to what happens when governments fail to pay their bills. They merely lack the “Made in the USA” tag that we seem to desire as proof of validity. I fall into that trap often, as the America people continue to live an insular life, even in the Communications Age, which we helped forge.